By Gift Briton
Despite many Kenyan women routinely walking into community pharmacies for medicines and health advice, some still go to health facilities when they need family planning services.
Majority of them do not know that trained community pharmacy providers can offer contraceptive services, including injectable methods while others are unsure whether they can discuss contraception privately with the person behind the counter.
That gap is what Jipende-Jipange was designed to address. The initiative gives pharmacies a recognisable identity so women can identify places where trained providers offer family planning services in a private and client-friendly setting.
The initiative grew from a five-year implementation research project led by inSupplyHealth and its partners, including the Ministry of Health, to test whether community pharmacies could expand access to quality family planning while remaining profitable.
“Five years ago, we started with a question. Can community pharmacies in Kenya simultaneously serve as quality providers for family planning services and contraceptives and still remain viable as businesses? And through that journey, we have discovered that the answer is yes,” said Yasmin Chandani, chief executive officer of inSupplyHealth.
Chandani was speaking at the project’s Learning and Exit Summit in Nairobi, where partners presented lessons from five years of work.
The wider project reached more than 200,000 women through a network of about 600 pharmacies in 10 counties: Nairobi, Kajiado, Kiambu, Kisumu, Meru, Narok, Nakuru, Kisii, Kericho and Uasin Gishu.
But researchers found that putting contraception within reach was only part of the challenge. Women also needed to know which pharmacies could provide the service and feel confident using them.
Phelisha Adhiambo, senior analyst leading demand generation at inSupplyHealth, said Jipende-Jipange was co-created with users through a human-centred design process.
Many clients did not know that pharmacies could offer injectable contraceptives. The Jipende-Jipange identity was therefore designed to make participating pharmacies easier to recognise.
“If I see a pharmacy and it is branded Jipende-Jipange, I know I can get my injectable from that pharmacy,” Adhiambo said, describing feedback from clients.
The identity was built around more than a logo. Pharmacies seeking the Jipende-Jipange identity had to meet requirements that included registration with the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, a private space for counselling and trained providers.
After training, providers received certificates and a unique identifier linked to the programme. The branded materials were then displayed in the pharmacy, while professional associations monitored participating pharmacies.
The project also tested ways to make the service easier to use after the first visit. Pharmacies experimented with appointment scheduling, SMS reminders and other follow-up tools to help clients return at a convenient time.
Privacy was particularly important because contraception can be difficult to discuss in a busy retail setting.
“Unless a client finds a trusted friendly face on the counter, most women will not just walk in and start talking about contraceptives,” Adhiambo said.
The project found signs that the approach was helping pharmacies attract and retain clients. About 44 per cent of family planning clients were first-time users, while the proportion of repeat clients increased from 57 per cent to 62 per cent, while client satisfaction was around 95 per cent.
The findings suggest that pharmacies were becoming a point of entry for women who had not previously used contraception while also supporting continued care among returning clients.
For some women, the visible identity helped resolve a basic question about whether the service was safe to use.
“The fact that I can come here and I can see the MoH accredited pharmacy there is a trust that comes with it and I am now more confident I can get my injections from here,” Adhiambo said, relaying feedback from a client.
The experience also changed the way some providers interacted with clients. Women who once arrived at the counter, asked for a method and left could spend more time discussing their needs in private.
“The pharmacies that have been successful have been the ones that really listen to clients and have an approach to service delivery that speaks to clients’ needs,” Chandani said.
The model comes as Kenya continues to face gaps in access to family planning services.
“Family planning services accessibility is still a problem in our country,” said Dr Edward Serem, head of the Division of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health at the Ministry of Health.
He reaffirmed the Ministry’s support for initiatives that can widen access and said the government is working towards its family planning and Sustainable Development Goals targets.
Kenya has more than 7,500 registered pharmacies, according to Chandani, giving the pharmacy channel significant potential to expand access if the model can be sustained.
But the research also points to limits that a brand alone cannot solve. Reliable supplies, continued provider support, stronger referral links between pharmacies and health facilities and policies that support quality services will be needed as the model expands.
Chandani said the next challenge is taking the lessons from the project into a system that can operate beyond donor support.
“Our dream would be to cover all the 47 counties because every Kenyan woman needs access. Our push for the next few years is to try and understand how to work with the market and not to do this artificially but to do it in a sustainable way,” she said.
